This invention solves many of the safety problems that exist in the currently used Australian designed plugs and sockets. The existing system is used around Australia as well as China, New Zealand, Argentina, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Tonga—countries that have adopted the Australian plug and socket system or similar style in their domestic/business markets, hospitals and Trade Sectors.
This invention recognises the existing Australian Standards set out for Australian Plug and sockets Australian Standard 3112. The invention's initial electrical pin configuration is identical to the existing Australian Standard. This enables this invention to be backward compatible with existing Australian sockets.
This invention can be manufactured to conform to other countries pin configurations, countries such, as Japan, the United States of America and Canada as they rely upon variants of small two or three pin plug and socket systems.
The existing Australian Plug and socket system is designed as an ‘in-line’ configuration that uses a round casing shape for the plug. The electrical wiring comes directly into the rear of the plug, which in turn then fits directly into the socket. This existing Australian design is best illustrated by the existing extension cord system as an ‘in-line system’
The problem with the existing system is that it is far too easy to simply pull out the plug from the sockets by excessive pulling on the electrical wire cord. Or, say when a person is using an electrical Garden appliance in conjunction with the electrical extension cord. The existing system makes it extremely easy to pull out the plug from the socket, either completely of partially. It does not matter if it is partially exposed or completely, either way there is the immediate danger that there is live electricity exposed to anyone close to the compromised connection.
The Voltage of the Australian electricity system is 240 Volts. This is potentially lethal for adults, and deadly for young children who could become exposed to the Voltage. This is unlike other countries systems such as the USA where they operate on a much lower Voltage of 110V which can be tolerated better by a human. Even so, 110 Volts is still unpleasant to get a jolt from at any age.
This scenario can be potentially lethal where the live pins or contacts are partially or fully exposed. If this happens on damp grass and a blade of grass touches the exposed live pin, or socket hole then a whole area of ground can become electrified and the unwitting operator coming close to the area can be electrocuted. Other scenarios that exist is when a small child could be playing and the live pins have become exposed due to the plug becoming slightly disengaged from the socket. A child could explore by inserting his/her very small fingers or a small metal object into the live terminals with again potentially lethal consequences.
The typical Australian plug is normally round in shape and has little grip for any finger. The Australian plug is difficult to handle making it very awkward for many people to insert or pull out the plug from sockets. In some cases, operators resort to pulling a plug out by the cord. This can eventually pull the wires out of the plug creating hazards such as wires crossing inside the plug and causing an internal electrical shorting, when damage can occur.
In some cases an operator will loop-tie the extension cords together to stop the plug and socket from separating.
The existing plug size creates a small footprint, onto which someone's fingers could accidentally slip off and touch the live pins. Children's fingers who have much smaller fingers and hands can accidentally slip their grip and touch the live pins when they attempt to pull the plug from the socket on the wall. It does not matter whether the hand is young or old—this is a potential problem for anyone, more so for those with dexterity difficulties.
This lack of a footprint has an inherent problem in that the plug has a tendency to wobble when it is located in the existing Australian designed socket. This can be seen when a vacuum cleaner is in use around the home and the plug is semi pulled from the socket. At times this has the potential of moving to one side and the exposed pins can be seen. Sometimes this results in an electrical flash taking place as the pins fail to connect correctly. This has the added potential problem that fluid could travel into that exposed crack and create an electrical leak. An example of that hazard is when water is around the operating zone, say in a kitchen. A combination of a loss of concentration, cleaning surfaces with water and a plug that becomes moist can become a potential lethal problem for the user.
This potential scenario could have lethal consequences in around any area, more so in the work zones of homes, offices, hospitals, military operations and light or heavy industry.
To add to this potential lethal problem—Australian Standards has now introduced an outer cup device, on the extension cord socket. Its purpose is to create a physical barrier to protect fingers from accidentally coming into contact with the live pins. Unfortunately this ‘cup’ can act as a superb device to hold water. Fluid build up can be as simple as moisture from damp grass. If a plug should come partially come out of the socket, while the pins are still live, an operator can be accidentally electrocuted from electrical leakage in contact with any fluid that may have built up inside this ‘cup like device’
In addition to the electrical leakage scenarios is the problem of an electrical appliance that become faulty, there is no independent cut-out system inside the standard Australian electric plug. There is no independent cut-out, that isolates the appliance from other items in circuit, should one appliance becomes faulty, The problem is compounded by the traditional use of only one fuse box inside the house or business operation. The theory is that if an appliance is faulty and it ‘blows’, it will trip the mains fuse in the fuse box. This has a serious flaw in the thinking, as many mains circuits will have a fuse rated at 15 AMPS. If an appliance is on that same circuit and it is rated at say only 8 AMPS and it becomes faulty, as that is a lower rating than the 15 AMP fuse, it will not blow the mains fuse. The current will still flow even though it has a fault on that circuit.
As a direct result, the wires on the faulty appliance can overheat and a fire can result. Many house fires in Australia are a result of electrical fires. The existing Australian electrical system has no prevention to stop electrical wiring from overheating.
Another cause for concern is that even if the mains fuse does blow, isolating that circuit, then the next problem is how to identify the offending appliance. If someone was to simply replace the blown fuse at the mains board, when power is switched back on the fuse will blow once again as the offending appliance is still in circuit.
The present Australian system fails to allow any user/operator to quickly identify which appliance is at fault. With the present Australian system to find the offending appliance can be a very long process. A process where it may mean a great deal of time trying to find which appliance is at fault by trial and error.
Additionally, the existing Australian plug and socket system offers limited safety for the trades person who is working on industrial sites where the location of work is at times less than perfect for the operator. Electrical cords can find themselves in adverse conditions in areas where there is moisture, rain or liquids; all potentially lethal for the operator and any unsuspecting worker in the locality.
The present plug and socket system fails to isolate the electricity in case of appliance failure or short circuit caused by moisture contact. Another scenario is that if an appliance does fail it will trip the mains fuse and other equipment that may be in use for giving another operator a ‘life support system’. If an appliance fails on a major worksite the mains fuse may blow but then there is in the major task of identifying the offending appliance would become a time consuming element again for the workers. If the current is put back on and the offending appliance becomes live again when someone is close by inspecting the appliances for faults, the operator could become an unwitting potential victim of the electricity coming back on circuit.
These problems have been compounded by successive changes with the Australian plug and sockets. Many households and businesses own older style plugs and sockets. Many do not comply with modern thinking about safety concerns. There is no system of ‘policing’ homes or businesses for old designs that do not comply with the latest in design thinking—there are always left over designs that then compromise the system as a whole.